1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to seatbelt systems for restraining an occupant of a vehicle to prevent movement of the occupant. More particularly, the invention pertains to a seatbelt system capable of automatically fastening a restraining webbing to the occupant after he is seated.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A typical conventional seatbelt system is arranged such that an occupant of a vehicle is fastened with a restraining webbing and is restrained by the webbing.
In order to automatically fasten the restraining webbing to the occupant after he has seated himself in a vehicle, a seatbelt system has been proposed which is arranged such that one end (hereinafter referred to as the "outer end") of the webbing is secured to a driving gear so that the outer end of the webbing is moved toward the front or rear end of the vehicle when the occupant enters or leaves the vehicle such as to allow the webbing to be automatically fastened to or unfastened from the occupant. In this type of seatbelt system, the portion of the webbing at the end (hereinafter referred to as the "inner end") which is opposite to the outer end portion thereof secured to the driving gear is wound up by means of a bias into a webbing retractor which is mounted on a floor member of the vehicle.
The seatbelt system of the type described above, however, encounters the following problem. When the outer end of the webbing is moved toward the rear end of the vehicle, the inner end of the webbing may excessively be wound off from the webbing retractor near the end point of the webbing moving stroke, thus causing an intermediate portion of the webbing to rub against the body of the occupant.
Examples of seatbelt systems capable of automatically fastening the restraining webbing to the occupant include those shown in the specifications of U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,489, Japanese Patent Publication No. 42,818/1976 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 26,019/1978.